The Fall of Brekhan

Eluryh

Eluryh was a kingdom of Elves and half-elves who worshiped the goddess Ailyh. The majority of the kingdom’s cities lay nestled along a river flowing from the mountain dubbed mount Knaramat into a lake—Lake Eluryh.

The elurians had built a multitude of temples each devoted to its own element of the world or life. Most notably is one by the peak of mount Knaramat, which is perpetually enshrouded by fog, and one at the base of the mountain, behind a waterfall. Each temple would be given offerings of wealth and new technological advances, to symbolize the passing of time. These offerings are secured from robbers behind many series of traps.

Humans with no elven blood were banished to the desert on the east side of the mountain range, forming the Odureg tribe. Starved but trapped in the desert, the Odureg people had no choice but to steal what supplies they could from the prosperous elurian cities.

The most remote elurian settlement was a village known as Hakiehs, high in the mountains and populated by ninja, some of whom were sworn to protect the royal family of Eluryh.

The ninja noticed the poor situation the odureg had been stuck in, and demanded that the elurian priesthood offer food and water to the people of the desert. The king, Noilder Adlez, however, did not trust the thieves and so declared that any who should assist the odureg in any manner would be punished by public torture and execution. Eventually the situation became tense enough that war was declared. The people of Hakiehs refused to participate in the war, and provided sanctuary to the odureg in their hidden village. Some odureg bravely ventured far to the north, with plans of forging a new empire in the frozen tundra, though they were never heard of again.

In retaliation for the treachery of Hakiehs, every last Ninja outside of their hometown was hunted down and slaughtered. The king found his personal guard and best friend, Miharig, lying dead on his own katana.

In the night, King Adlez was assassinated. The kingdom then descended into chaos, and all major cities were abandoned or destroyed in the anarchic war. Not knowing who to trust, most citizens ran with close friends and relatives, or lived in solitude.

The late king’s son, Prince Noilder II decided to brave the mountain in a last ditch effort to stop the war. It is said that he could not find the village, but a messenger stopped him along the pass, by the mountain’s temple. They agreed to end the war, and a treaty was signed. Of course, the messenger had brought with an army of ninja, who after the treaty’s signing, dispersed into the fog to deliver the news to all the people of Eluryh. The messenger, a woman named Andim, then swore fealty to the prince as his personal guard.

Together, they returned to Eluryh Castle, and the prince awaited the return of his people. Few came. Those who did told fearful tales of an army of trist, slaughtering the small groups of isolated elurians. Noilder II then picked up the shattered remains of his father’s crown, gathered a small party of those who were fit to fight, and ran out under the cover of night to oppose the trist threat. Under the next day’s twilight, the two forces finally met, and despite being impossibly outnumbered, Noilder II and his party of 6 forced the enemy into retreat, but not after losing two of the former king’s greatest swordsmen. After a moment of silence and prayer, the remainder of the party set out to find any surviving elurians.

The party eventually came across Noilder II’s prophetic great uncle, Knil. From his deathbed, Knil told the party that Eluryh was at its end, and that the kingdom could never rise again to its former glory. That is, not for a long, long, time. With his dying breath, Knil told Noilder II that he must make a plan to form Eluryh anew. Noilder II exited the hut in tears, and left to return to his castle.